Granted
by DamaDeHonor
Summary: Daniel encounters an odd little girl on another planet, who agrees to return with him to the SGC. However, her presence leads to reignited conflict between him and Jack. Besides, who is she, and why does she want to help Daniel so much? Non-romance.
1. Chapter 1

o o o

Daniel was attempting to translate some ruins when she appeared out of nowhere. A little girl with light brown hair and light blue eyes. She was cute and harmless looking, but she said, "Daniel Jackson, what do wish for more than anything in the world? I can give it to you."

Ah. That was odd, but she didn't sound like a Goa'uld, so he figured she was some other type of alien. Hopefully not a _bad_ one.

"I don't want anything... Who are you?"

She frowned a bit, but replied, "That is unimportant. What if I could give you offspring? I detect that you do not have any as yet and it is unlikely that you will."

Daniel squinted thoughtfully, and looked around nervously for Sam. But unfortunately, the Colonel was in the village, and not close at hand.

"That's really not necessary. I'd rather you didn't, whoever you are. What did you say your name was, again?"

She tilted her head and frowned. "Unimportant, but it is a bit of a mouthful, is it not?" He decided she was being sarcastic. "What if I gave Jack O'Neill another child, instead? That would make him happy would it not, and you happy in the process."

"No!" Daniel protested, and she quirked a fine eyebrow up at him.

"I have commited a faux paus, I see. I apologize."

"Uh, that's all right. What race are you exactly... Or _are_ you human?"

"I am not. Why are you so curious about me? I want only to give you something in return." She looked truly disconcerted.

"Repay me? For what?" Daniel wished he could undo whatever it was he'd done that she felt she needed to repay him for.

"I was asleep... In these ruins. You awakened me. I am grateful." She inclined her head. "I wish to do something in return."

"I don't understand. Why were you 'asleep', and how did I manage to wake you up?" Daniel questioned.

"I was awakened by the sound of my language being deciphered... It echoes in your mind as you translate and draws me away from my dreams." She frowned as if in thought. "As for how I came to be here in the first place... It is still coming back to me slowly. I will tell you when my memory clears."

Daniel arched a brow at her vague explanation, and said, "Well, I guess... You're welcome. But I really don't need you to give me anything. I didn't even know what I was doing would have the affect that it did."

She sighed, but tiptoed over to one of the ruin's monoliths. She traced her fingertips over the odd script, something that resembled a bunch of circles of different sizes and placed in different positions, and even stretched as to resemble ovals more than perfect circles.

**oO..G D.oo Cc O..OcQ oG. Ooco**

Some of the circles were broken, and at first Daniel thought they had simply been worn away from the stone by the elements and time, but he realized soon enough that they were letters of this alphabet also.

"I remember this... It's a record." She glanced back and up at him with exited eyes. "It says that Ooco lies here... That's me!"

"Which symbols are O'ahka? Daniel questioned, and Ooco pointed them out to him, her small fingers tracing over the rough etchings.

"The people must have written this as a grave-stone," she explained, "They must have thought I was dead. I still don't remember why I chose to sleep, or if it was really a choice." She turned away from the inscriptions and walked a little ways before plopping down in the tall, green grass.

"Doesn't it explain anymore?" Daniel questioned with a purse of his lips. "There's an awful lot of writing here..."

O'akah looked up at him over her shoulder, a little frown between her light brows. "It's just others who've died. A gravesite is all this is, besides the place where I slept. Dig, and you shall find bones." She turned away and began plucking blades of grass with her nimble fingers.

"How _old_ are you exactly, O'akah?" Daniel asked, coming to sit beside her on the ground.

She gave him a sidelong look from beneath her golden lashes. "Well, _now_ I don't exactly know, but when I fell asleep, I was around..." She chewed on her bottom lip and her eyes grew distant. "Twenty years." She smiled at him brightly.

"Right," Daniel said, neutrally. "So, you age differently than humans?" he hypothesized.

"Perhaps," she said in a way that made him think she was merely teasing him. "I wish you would let me give you something..." She was sulking.

Daniel was about to tell her again that he didn't want a thing, but suddenly he thought of something. "You could come with me," he said, striving for casual and only achieving hopeful tamped down a bit.

"Really?" she questioned. "Where are you going? To another village?"

"I thought you read minds." Daniel said, trying to determine if she was simply playing ignorant, or if she truly didn't know.

"No, just thoughts... And sometimes other things, like images, or books." Again, the truth with a bit of sarcasm thrown in. Strange girl... woman?

"Okay, uhm, I come from another place. It's much farther away than the next village. I would tell you more, but... I don't exactly trust you, so I need to ask Colonel Samantha Carter beforehand."

"Sam? Your friend?" O'akah asked.

Daniel nodded, and said, "She's my commanding officer. Right now she's in the village with Teal'c, my other friend."

"Oh," she said. "Shall we go to the village now?" She looked hesitant, and glanced behind her at the ruins furtively. "Or did you want to continue your translating? I could disappear for awhile if you wanted to."

"No, no," Daniel protested, "Let's walk to the village. I'll ask Sam, and then we'll see from there."

O'akah smiled and jumped to her feet. She bounced her weight back and forth from foot to foot and wondered impatiently, "Are you coming or not?"

"Right, of course," Daniel agreed, and rose also.

o o o

"She's an alien?" Sam repeated suspiciously. Or maybe it was "skeptically".

"That's right," Daniel confirmed.

"And she's agreed to go back with us through the stargate?" Sam questioned, in a "let me get this straight" tone.

Daniel pretended to think about it, moving his eyes to the side and pressing his lips together, then nodded. "Yup."

"How do we know this isn't some sort of trick to infiltrate the SGC?"

"Are you saying she's a Goa'uld trap?" Daniel questioned.

"She doesn't have to have anything to do with the Goa'uld, Daniel," Sam reminded him, "She could be from an alien race that has their own agenda against us, like the Reetu."

"Right," Daniel said abruptly, "I guess we'll just have to leave her here, or take a chance, with extreme precautions of course, and bring her to Earth."

Sam gave him a "don't play that game with me" look, but reluctantly said, "All right, Daniel. Home it is. But when something goes wrong. Which I'm pretty certain it will, I'm blaming it all on you."

Daniel nodded agreeably. "Teal'c, O'akah, you can come back in now," he called to the two who'd been sent outside the Air Force issue tent. O'akah, so she wouldn't hear the private conversation between Sam and Daniel, and Teal'c to guard O'akah in case she decided to start any mischief.

They ducked inside the tent, and O'akah questioned, "I can come with you?"

"That's right," Daniel said, and the "girl" grinned.

"Yea!" she said with obvious excitement, then questioned sheepishly, "That is what you say, correct?"

"Yeah," Daniel said, wondering if she'd picked that from his brain as well.

Sam tossed him a peculiar look, and Teal'c raised a brow. "Shall we depart, then?" he questioned.

Sam shrugged in a resigned manner. "Let's pack up."

o o o

When they got back, Jack was none too happy about the situation. So, he and Sam were pretty much in total agreement. But Daniel decided that was good. At least there would be two suspicious souls to keep things from getting out of hand if it came to that.

But Daniel didn't seriously believe that O'akah was up to anything like taking over the SGC or Earth even. Maybe she was hiding things, but he didn't think it had anything to do with that.

And if he was wrong, well, it wouldn't be the first time.

"Daniel, I'm not even going to ask what on earth possessed you to bring this alien here, and I won't wonder why you, Carter, didn't stop to think to _ask_ before bringing her here." Jack pursed his lips and ceased speaking.

"Begging your pardon, sir, but I knew you'd say yes," Sam answered, rather cheekily. There was a hint of teasing beneath her seriousness, though.

Well, it was enough to throw the General at any rate. "True... So you're both off the hook. Daniel, take this opportunity to see if she knows anything useful. Carter, you too." He made a face. "And Teal'c, watch their backs."

Teal'c inclined his head, a slight smile on his lips.

o o o

"So he said I could stay?" O'akah questioned, eagerly. Daniel nodded.

"Yea!" she rejoiced.

"Are you picking these expressions out of my head?" Daniel asked.

"Mmmhmm," she answered, grinning wickedly.

"Interesting, could you explain to me how this reading my mind thing works?" He leaned forward in his chair and O'akah bounced off the bunk bed and stood close to him.

"Well, I just hear in my head what you hear in yours. So, I picked up certain expressions and patterns of speech from you, already."

The door opened and Sam walked in, followed by General O'Neill and Teal'c. O'akah looked up at them with excitement. "Colonel Carter! Are you here to determine why I can read minds?"

She ran over to Sam, practically bumping into her in her haste. Samantha caught her by a shoulder to steady her, and O'akah beamed up at Sam with a huge grin. "Sam! I like the color of your hair! It's so pretty. All the villagers always had dark hair... Don't you like her hair, General O'Neill?" She turned her blue eyes beseechingly to Jack, and Jack gave her a double-take.

"Yeah," he said, and cleared his throat. "It's nice." He avoided looking in Sam's direction.

"See!" O'akah exclaimed. "Can I see your office, Sam?"

"Well, if it's all right with General O'Neill, I suppose," Sam volunteered.

"Sweet," O'akah declared, happily, and Daniel wondered exactly which mind she picked that particular expression out of.

"Come on, Samantha!" O'akah called, running ahead to the door and unsuccessfully trying to open it. "Let's go!" Impatient little one, wasn't she, Daniel noticed.

When Sam opened the door for her, everyone else followed them out into the hall as well.

o o o

A/N: I have a little more than that, but it's incomplete. If anyone likes this and wants more please review and ask me to continue it. Because I probably won't on my own impetus. -misao-incarnate.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Meh. I decided that I actually _did_ want to continue this of my own volition. I'm such a schizophrenic loon. Oh, and SG-1 definitely doesn't belong to me, or it would be like one of those animes that has several different alternate story archs. Heh.

o o o

Jack had to leave after only a bit, being the head of the SGC and all. Daniel hung around for as long as possible, but finally had to excuse himself to return to more catalogueing and such work. Teal'c also excused himself, and so Samantha was left alone with O'akah.

But that situation didn't last long either, because General O'Neill called, saying O'akah needed to get herself checked out in the infirmary. So, Sam took her to the infirmary and waited around while they ran their multititudinous tests on her.

What they found wasn't anything special, just a girl of about eight to ten years of age in perfect physical condition. Blood work and some other tests would take a bit longer for the results to come back, but they would have to leave it at that for the moment.

"So, I'm just a normal kid," O'akah said to Sam, questioningly, swinging her feet back and forth as she sat on the examination table.

"That's what it looks like," Sam replied, keeping her tone light. O'akah had this way about her. It was as if she knew more about herself than she was admitting to, but she was still innocent because it wasn't anything that would harm them.

At least that's what Sam believed. "I'm going to have to stay here a while though, aren't I? Until you have time to understand me better, right?"

"Yes," Sam answered, not knowing where this line of questioning was headed.

"So, where will I sleep for the night?" O'akah wondered, looking as if she were quite nervous.

Sam blinked. "Oh. Well, I hadn't thought about it, but you'll probably have to spend the night in a room here, though," Sam warned.

"That's okay," O'akah admitted cheerfully, "As long as I don't have to sleep in one of _these_ beds."

"What's wrong with these beds?" Sam wondered, although she wouldn't want to have to sleep in the infirmary, she wondered why O'akah would have a hangup with it.

"It's too busy and crowded here," O'akah explained. "And there've been sick people here. I don't like the atmosphere."

"I don't blame you, and don't worry. You won't have to sleep in the infirmary," Sam reassured.

Around that time, General O'Neill came strolling into the infirmary and up to Sam and O'akah. "How's it going?" he wondered, casually.

O'akah slid off the end of the bed and bounced up and down in front of Jack. "They ran _all_ these tests on me-- a _lot_, a _lot_ of them! But Sam says they won't make me sleep in here, so it's okay!"

"Is there any chance one of us could take her off base?" Sam questioned. "If not, I'll spend the night over here, so you won't have to be alone, O'akah."

"I'd be okay alone," O'akah assured her, eagerly, "I was sleeping in that grave for over a hundred years..." She trailed off, seeming distracted by some thought or something. "I think I remember something."

"What is it?" Sam questioned, wondering what could give the normally carefree girl such a dark expression.

"Hmm?" O'akah asked, looking up toward Sam and blinking. She smiled suddenly, all the shadows fleeing her face. "Oh, nothing," she answered, a bit too quickly.

Jack said, "Er, we can't let her off the base. No security clearance, but you can stay if you wan't, Carter."

Sam nodded, and O'ahka beamed at her, confirming Sam's suspicions that she really _did_ want the Colonel to stay with her. "Are you hungry at all?" Sam questioned, and O'ahka started grinning.

"Do they really have _blue_ food?" O'ahka questioned, following Carter out of the infirmiry.

Jack shook his head as he watched them go. _That_ was a really strange girl...

o o o

As O'ahka sampled some red, green, and blue jello--she'd insisted on trying all three, Sam finished off her own blue jello and wondered, "Are you going to get hyper from this?"

"Not like a normal child would," the little girl replied, "Do you know what Doctor Jackson wants out of life?"

What an odd question. "Not a clue," Sam murmured, wondering why Daniel had even stayed in the stargate program this long. At the beginning he had been so wide-eyed and full of a sense of adventure. Now... It was hard to explain the difference, but maybe it had started when he'd lost Sha're.

"Do you think if he had his wife back, he would be happy?" O'ahka questioned, pausing in her jello eating to look up at Sam hopefully.

"Ah... I don't think that's something you can give him, or should," Carter told the alien child, remembering now what Daniel had discussed with her about O'ahka wanting to repay him for awakening her. "Besides, no one said that Daniel was _unhappy_." But was he?

O'ahka looked down at her unfinished jello. "He seems sad," she said quietly.

"He's just serious," Sam assured the girl, without much conviction. Why shouldn't Daniel be happy? He had the team, and he had the knowledge that he was doing something amazing with his life. Wasn't that enough? Was it enough for _her_ when she lay awake some nights thinking about Jack or what might have been if _she'd_ decided to keep Cassie?

"You seem sad, too," O'ahka added.

"I don't think any of us will be completely happy until we know that Earth is safe and we've defeated the Goa'uld for good," Sam told her the propaganda designed for small ears.

O'ahka sighed. "I'm just worried that there will always be someone more left to fight, and none of you will stop to think about living your lives." She really wasn't a normal little girl, was she? That was almost an echo of Sam's own internal fears. How could she respond to that?

"Let's go ahead and get you to bed." Ah, good old fashioned evasion tactics.

o o o

O'ahka couldn't sleep. Must've been the jello she had for desert, she decided, slipping out of the Air Force issue bed. She tiptoed into the hall and asked the guard standing just outside her door, "Mister SF, can I take a walk?"

He knelt down next to her and asked, "Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

She giggled. "No, sir... Do you think Dr. Jackson is still awake?"

A wry look passed across the young man's face. "That's a definite possibility, miss."

"Will you take me to him?" she wondered, tugging on the officer's hand. He nodded, rising to his feet and walking with her down the hall.

They stopped in front of an open door a little while later, and O'ahka spied Daniel sitting at his desk, studying some strewn about artifacts and pouring over some notes simultaneously. "Daniel!" she called, releasing the SF's hand and running into the office.

Daniel glanced up, startled by the girl's entrance. "O'ahka," he said, surprised.

"She wanted to see you," the SF told him, politely. "Shall I wait outside?"

"Uh," Daniel glanced toward the young guard, "Oh, uhm, go ahead." The SF nodded and went to stand outside the archeologist's door.

O'ahka leaned her hands on Daniel's thigh and looked up into his face beseechingly. "I couldn't sleep. Why can't you just talk about something that you want? It doesn't mean I have to give it to you--you can still say 'no'."

Daniel frowned. "It's not that simple."

"It's because you don't trust me, isn't it," the girl said, starting to sound as if she were going to go into a sulk.

"Okay," Daniel relented, "If I talk about something that I wish I had, will you go back to bed and leave me alone? And _not_ grant it." If she even could. Daniel wasn't sure what other powers she had besides being able to read minds, but he wasn't certain she could do what she claimed she could. Or even if she meant what he thought she did...

"Okay," she said, sounding somewhat subdued but pleased, nonetheless.

"I would like to go back to 'digging up rocks' one day, to start a family that I can actually keep. I would like to not have to live in fear of whether tomorrow the world might be overrun and taken over by Goa'ulds." He would like it if he could be sure his friends would still be there tomorrow, smiling at him, making their usual jokes. Telling him about their latest favorite things... Instead of dying--in his arms. Like Fraiser--on some alien planet, trying to save someone _else's_ life and losing her own.

O'ahka's eyes teared up and she began to sniffle. "Ah, uhm," Daniel said, touching her shoulder. "I--What did I say?"

A tear rolled down her cheek, and she smiled at him and claimed, "I-I'm all right." She then turned around and fled his office.

"Hey!" he heard the SF calling after her in the hallway outside. Stunned, Daniel turned back to his work, staring at it blankly for a long time.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I'm so glad readers actually seem to like this. So far I haven't gotten stuck. Perhaps that is because I am bored to tears. No school, just work, and my brain feels like it's starting to atrophe. So I need_ something_ to do. That's why the updates have been so quick, but I don't know how long that will last. M.

o o o

_I would like to go back to "digging up rocks" one day..._

O'ahka walked down the hall with Sam beside her, thinking about Daniel's words from the night before. Not only his words but...

_I would like to not have to see people die in front of me. I would like to not have to lose my loved ones with every other breath I breathe..._

Tugging on the end of Sam's shirt, she asked, "Do you think General O'Neill will be busy?"

_It depends on your definition of busy_, was Sam's somewhat ironic thought. Aloud she was more polite, "I don't know. We'll see when we get to his office."

O'ahka tried not to giggle when she caught Sam's mental picture of a juvenile Jack O'Neill playing a human game with controls hooked up to a viewing screen. The word Nintendo came to mind.

"I'm sorry to bother you, sir," Sam said once they'd located Jack in his office, "But O'ahka wanted to talk with you."

"With me?" Jack wondered, looking up from the file on his desk.

"It's about 'rockboy'," O'ahka said, and Jack's mouth opened and worked as if he were trying to think of something to say and couldn't.

Sam went red in the face for some reason she couldn't quite fathom except that that nickname had been something Jack had referred to Daniel as when they had first started working together and were still trying to figure out how to get along.

"I'd better, uhm," she began, nervously, "Go fix something in my lab," she finished quickly and practically ran away.

Jack wondered, "Do you even know what you just said?" He'd finally gotten control of his tongue if not his volatile emotions.

O'ahka silently stepped forward and lifted herself into the seat in front of Jack's desk. "I asked Dr. Jackson what he wanted most and he said, 'I'd like to go back to "digging up rocks" someday.' He said a little more, but when he said that, I got this very clear image of _you_ from him." Could she help it if she sounded a little accusing.

"Please tell me I'm not getting a lecture from a seven year old kid," Jack muttered. "Look, O', whatever misunderstandings between me and Daniel have since then been resolved. I don't appreciate you mucking around in his brain and dredging up all this crap from the past."

"_He_ said it," she exclaimed, "It's not my fault he's been disallusioned!"

Did that make it _Jack's_ fault? "Are you accusing me of disallusioning Dr. Jackson? Because if you are, then maybe it's good that he's not so naive anymore." Wow, he was actually chewing out a seven year old kid. Albeit an alien, older than she seemed, seven year old kid.

"It's not that he's more world wise now!" O'ahka yelled, leaning forward in the chair so far she had to catch hold of the desk before she fell off. "It's that he's hopeless! He's lost faith! He doesn't think you're all going to make it! How else can I say it? Life sucks, and I'm just going to have to bare it."

Did she really need to add, without the grin? Kicking herself back against the chair, she burst into hysterical sobbing.

Uh, oh, Jack thought, and got to his feet to go around and crouch beside O'ahka. "Hey, don't do that... Listen..." Frustrated he took her wrist and pulled one of her hands away from her face, "Stop."

"Meanie," she bit back at him. "Don't you care how he feels?"

"I do, but you have to understand," Jack tried to explain, "People deal with things in different ways. I... I just don't want to interfere with his way of dealing."

"That's bull," she retorted, snatching her wrist away from his loosened grip. "If you really saw him as a son, you would be trying to interfere as much as possible."

Now that was unfair, and none of her business, come to think of it. "Don't start picking _my_ brain now, O'," he warned her.

She dropped her hands from her face and glared at him. "When he does all that stupid stuff... Well, when he used to. Wasn't it even the _slightest_ clue that something was going on inside his head?"

Darn. She certainly had him there. Hadn't he wondered himself, after the incident with the sarcophagus and Daniel's subsequent addiction, if maybe he'd done it because there was something in him that said, "Hey, the world sucks, let me try and fix it this way." But it had all turned out okay, and he'd let himself forgive and forget... Maybe she was right, maybe he shouldn't have.

But that didn't really give her the right to tell _him_ that. "Just leave it alone, all right?" he told her, flatly.

O'ahka growled in frustration then hopped off the chair. "You're stupid. If I had someone who loved me as much as the people that love you, I wouldn't waste it by refusing to reciprocate. Stupid... stupid... Stupid!" She punctuated her last word by stomping out of his office angrily.

Jack tried not to think about the relevant parts of her argument. But _darn_ she had a good point.

And then he remembered that he couldn't just let the girl go running around the SGC unattended. "Oh, for crying out loud," he vented, and hurried after her as quickly as his crotchety old knee would allow.

"O'!" he called, finally catching sight of her on the stairway. She glanced back and up at him and stuck out her tongue.

"I don't want to talk to you anymore," she yelled, continuing to hop down the stairs at a speed he decided was _not_ safe.

"Just slow down, O', or you're going to fall," Jack growled back down to her.

"_You'd_ fall, you old man," she returned cheekily.

"I am so going to get her," Jack muttered under his breath. An SF caught up with him and asked, "Need any help sir?"

Jack's eyes narrowed, and he replied breathlessly, "Nah, I got this one, Lieutenant." Yeah, he had this one all right. He had her in his sights about seven feet away, already at the bottom of the stairs. Darn it...

"O'ahka!" Daniel, who was walking by with a file tucked under one arm and a coffee mug in the other, stopped in front of the girl and inadvertantly blocked her way. "What are you doing over here by yourself?"

"She's not by herself," Jack explained, finally reaching them. He leaned on the rail of the stair and tried to catch his breath. He wasn't exactly _out_ of shape, but then, he was definitely not _in_ shape compared to a seven year old kid, either.

O'ahka cried, "Daniel!" and threw her arms around Daniel's legs. She turned her head to glare back at Jack. "General O'Neill was being mean to me!" she accused.

Daniel blinked at Jack, nibbling on his bottom lip a bit. "Did you say som--?"

"No! I mean--" Jack protested, but O'ahka cut in.

"He said that now that you hate life, he's happy!"

"What?" Jack and Daniel exclaimed at the same time--Jack in outrage and Daniel in shock.

"Daniel," Jack said, placatingly, "I obviously did _not_ say that."

Daniel chewed on the inside of the corner of his mouth. "And O'ahka can't read minds and hasn't really been crying?" Oh. Uh, oh. He was being sarcastic. Was he really going to take O'ahka's, a strange alien's, side over his? Why not? He'd done it before. Reese came to mind.

"She's _lying_," Jack retorted, defensively.

Daniel placed his semi free hand on O'ahka's shoulder and glared at Jack. "She's a little girl."

"Oh, for crying out loud, Daniel!" was all Jack could think to come up with. He improvised, "She's an _alien_. One that we know nothing about except that, so far, she's a perfectly normal human kid. That in itself tells me that something isn't right."

"So I guess everything different and alien automatically has to be bad," Daniel wondered, scathingly, and a few heads turned at that but quickly turned back to whatever they'd been doing before. Jack was sure that they were only _pretending_ to do it, this time, though.

"I didn't say that," Jack said, straining for a calm tone. "O', why don't you explain to Daniel what I _really_ said?"

O'ahka moved her face away from Daniel's legs to peek at Jack. "You said, 'maybe it's a good thing that he's not so naive anymore'," O'ahka told him, and he kicked himself mentally. He'd _known_ it was a bad idea to try to enlist her help, but he'd been desperate.

Daniel's face took on a blank look that signified imminent disaster. "O'ahka, tell Jack what I'm thinking right now," he said quietly then turned and strode purposely away from the observation room area.

O'ahka sniffled and rubbed her eyes. Jack swallowed, "What did...?"

She looked up at him with tear-filled blue eyes. Her lip quivered. "He said he hates you."

o o o


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Ah, the plot thickens. Hope everyone enjoys this next chp... a _lot_. Because I'm not sure when the next one will be done. I kind of got in trouble for sort of slacking off, so I might not have as much free time as I previously thought. -pouts-

o o o

There was a knock on Sam's door and before she could call out to whoever it was to come in, the door burst open. Jack strode in, his hand clasping O'ahka's. His expression was stormy as he declared, "Watch her." Then he walked right back out, slamming the door behind him.

O'ahka stood in the middle of Sam's lab, staring at the floor, guiltily. "Okay..." Sam wondered, "What happened?"

The little imp mumbled something, while trailing the toe of her right foot along the floor in front of her. "What?" Sam questioned, and O'ahka mumbled a bit more clearly, "I made the General and Dr. Jackson angry with each other."

Sam rubbed her temple. _"How," _she asked, feeling as if this were a monumental start to a bad day.

O'ahka still refused to look up at her as she explained, vaguely, "I made them choose sides over me."

"And they were getting along so well lately," Sam muttered, feeling depressed and annoyed all at once. "Tell me exactly what happened, and _maybe_ I can help you fix it."

O'ahka looked up at the astrophysicist in surprise. "You'll help me?"

"Of course," Sam agreed. "Just as soon as you _explain_ what happened," she urged irritably.

O'ahka swallowed nervously. "Basically... I told Daniel that Jack said that he was glad that Daniel isn't naive anymore. So they were arguing about aliens and... there was a whole bunch of memories and subtext that I couldn't quite follow, but the gist of it is, I dug up some old issues, and Daniel walked off telling me to tell Jack what he was thinking, which was that he hates Jack." She sighed then began chewing at her bottom lip.

Sam wondered if she'd picked that particular gesture up from Daniel. "So..." she began, repeating the information back to O'ahka, "You made them argue and now Daniel is angry with Jack, and Jack is angry with Daniel for being angry with him?"

O'ahka nodded solemnly in reply. Sam buried her face in her hands for a few seconds then took a deep breath and looked up at O'ahka again. "Did it even occur to you that meddling with something that wasn't in need of fixing was a _bad_ idea?"

O'ahka wrapped her arms around her chest and glared at Sam. "I was trying to help them," she defended herself.

"Well, you shouldn't have," Sam told her, bluntly. A bit harsh, Sam? she asked herself.

O'ahka pursed her lips together and frowned stubbornly. "General O'Neill likes you but he keeps it a secret."

"What?" Sam's face went cold as the blood drained from it and then flared up with heat as it came rushing back. "O'ahka," she warned, "That's none of your business."

"And you like him too!" O'ahka declared. "But you both are too scared to admit it to each other because you're afraid the feeling won't be reciprocated or someone will find out and take the other away from you. But how long are you going to wait for it to be right? Until one of you has died?"

Sam stood up from her seat, not quite sure what she was going to do, only that she was amazingly furious at the moment. O'ahka backed up toward the door the look on her face close to tears or... she was scared. All the air went out of Sam's bubble, and she collapsed back into her seat.

"You're right," she said, quietly, gazing down at her desk. "But we _have_ to wait. We can't do anything right now... It wouldn't be right for several reasons."

First, it was against the rules, second, if one of them died, which was quite possible, it would only be worse for the other one left. Third, what if they realized they were all wrong in that sort of relationship? It would make their professional relationship together a major issue.

O'ahka shook her head and hugged herself again. The flicker of a memory entered Sam's mind, but it passed before she could place it. "I don't get you people," the little girl said, sounding defeated. "You want so much, but you never even try to take it."

o o o

Daniel glanced over the notes he'd made of O'ahka's gravestone and narrowed his eyes as if that would help him decipher the meaning of the etchings. Who was the girl really? And why was she so determined to interfere with his life?

Look how badly she'd messed it up already. He thought that those problems he'd had with Jack had pretty much been resolved already. Maybe they hadn't, though. Maybe they'd just been put on hold for a little while.

But it wasn't like he didn't have his part in making it worse. He _had_ practically told O'ahka to tell Jack that he hated him. Even though it wasn't exactly the truth. He'd certainly meant it, but just in the way that young children mean it. In the heat of anger, and then when the anger was gone, so was the "hate."

Daniel removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Crap... Maybe he was just stressed out. Otherwise why would he have acted so childishly? Sighing, Daniel replaced his glasses and stared at his notes again. He looked at the rough sketch he'd made of the etchings. O'ahka said that that particular word stood for her name, Daniel remembered. As he stared at the enscription, it seemed to waver and shift. _O'ahka...__child of the stars. Resting here but never ours._

Daniel blinked, and the momentary hallucination cleared. Had he really read what he'd thought he'd read, or was his tired brain just playing tricks on him? Was it possible that maybe O'ahka's ability to pick certain things up from the mind of others worked both ways? Too bad he hadn't copied more of the inscription to test that theory on.

o o o

"First," Samantha told O'ahka, "We're going to go talk to General O'Neill, and then we'll go talk to Dr. Jackson." She glanced back to where O'ahka was trailing behind her to see if the girl was even listening and noticed that O'ahka was watching her feet carefully as she walked.

"O'ahka," Sam halted and questioned, "Are you all right?" O'ahka looked up just in time to bump into Sam's legs. She caught herself on Sam's pants then looked up at the Colonel sheepishly. She was squinting. "Can you see me okay?" Sam wondered suspiciously.

"Yes," O'ahka replied, smiling, but she sounded uncertain. Sam held up two fingers.

"Count my fingers," she requested, and O'ahka frowned and squinted even harder in the direction of Sam's hand. She nibbled on her bottom lip and finally said, "Two... but..." She cleared her throat. "I had to cheat, Samantha." She blushed and looked away.

Sam blinked and put down her hand. She had forgotten that the girl could read minds. "You're having trouble seeing two feet in front of you, aren't you?" she questioned.

O'ahka glared at her feet and mumbled something. "What?" Sam questioned, and she repeated, "I said, 'I can't even see my hand right here'." She held up her hand a few inches away from her face.

Sam was amazed. That was almost exactly the way Daniel described his own sight problem, myopia. "Let's stop by the infirmiry before we go find General O'Neill," she suggested, her curiosity peeked to its maximum.

She started to walk away, and looked back to see the little girl looking lost and holding her arms around her chest. "What is it?" she questioned.

O'ahka squinted in her general direction and replied, "Will you hold my hand?"

Oh. "I'm sorry," she apologized, feeling like a jerk. She returned, grasping the girl's hand in her own. "I won't let you fall," she said quietly, "I promise."

o o o

Dr. Brightman said, "She definitely needs glasses, and I happen to have an extra pair of Dr. Jackson's..." She looked at Samantha, questioningly, having it seemed, caught on to the theory just by Sam's hints.

"Go ahead and bring them," Sam requested, and the Doctor left the examination room, returning a moment later with a pair of spectacles in her hand.

She handed them over to O'ahka, who was seated on the edge of the examination table. O'ahka slid them onto her face and they slipped down the bridge of her nose a bit. When she pushed them back up, Sam was overwhelmed by sense of deja vu.

"Can you see any better?" Brightman wondered, curiously.

O'ahka nodded, smiling with relief. "Yes." She looked slightly ridiculous but overall pretty cute in the oversized lenses. Sam held back her grin, though, afraid she might embarrass O'ahka.

"Then you can keep those until we have a smaller pair ordered," Brightman replied, smiling politely in return.

"Come on," Sam said to O'ahka, "Let's go talk to the General." She lifted O'ahka off of the examination table and onto the floor.

O'ahka said quietly as they walked out into the hall, "You can laugh if you want." She grinned at Sam, while pushing the huge glasses back up over her eyes again. She looked like Professor Owl.

Sam giggled.

o o o


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Very sorry about the oh, so late update. Have to figure out where I want to go w/ this fic, so it might be awhile till the next one. M.

o o o

"I do _not_ want to talk to that little demon again," Jack said before Sam could even open her mouth.

"Sir," she answered, carefully, "I think you need to have a look at this." She motioned behind her for O'ahka to enter the room.

Jack glared downward to where O'ahka stood, her hands wrapped around herself, staring up at the General with pursed lips and big... ahem... big, blue eyes. Jack's mouth opened but he closed it again.

"Is it just me or does she look a little bit like Daniel?" he wondered.

"She has Daniel's eye condition, sir," Carter replied. O'ahka ducked her head and shoved the glasses back up with a couple of her fingers.

"_Why_?" Jack wondered, unable to restrain his tone of horror.

O'ahka muttered something under her breath, and he demanded, "What did you say?"

"I said your feet stink," O'ahka insulted, looking up to glare at him. The huge glasses perched on her cute little nose sort of negated the intimidating effect, though. Not that he would have been intimidated by a seven year old in the first place.

"I don't know, sir," Carter put in before the tiny spat could escalate any further. "But I have a theory..."

"It's wrong," O'ahka interrupted. "Besides, we came here so that I could apologize not so you could discuss why I'm wearing Dr. Jackson's prescription glasses."

"Testy," Jack put in, and then wondered, "Apologize?"

"I'm sorry I caused a fight between you and Dr. Jackson," O'ahka replied, sourly.

"Hmm," Jack said, "You really sound sorry."

"That's because I am," O'ahka retorted, ignoring Jack's sarcasm.

"What's going on with you and the glasses," Jack questioned, deciding to ignore her apology.

"Uhm..." O'ahka evaded his question, "I'm sort of hungry, Sam. Can we go eat lunch?" she looked up at Carter hopefully.

"I think she's taking on Daniel's characteristics because she's a telepath," Carter told Jack.

O'ahka snapped, "Stop trying to figure it out and take me to get something to eat before I start getting grumpy."

"I think it's a little late for that," Jack said dryly.

"Sir," Sam wondered, "Could you watch her for a bit while I go talk to Dr. Brightman?"

"You're not going to talk to Dr. Brightman, you're going to ask her to do something with my blood sample," the little girl sulked.

"Well," Carter said quickly, "Gotta go." And she vanished through the doorway and into the briefing room.

"I was going to apologize to Daniel next," O'ahka said, grinning mischievously. "Will you take me to him?"

"You're related to the devil, aren't you?" Jack questioned, rationally. O'ahka scowled.

o o o

Daniel was working out with Teal'c when Jack and O'ahka entered the weight room. "She's not allowed in here," Daniel snapped.

"O'ahka," Jack said, pleasantly, "Go outside."

She kicked him in the ankle and crossed to stand beside Daniel, who was stradling a weight bench, curling a dumb bell with one arm. Teal'c raised an eyebrow at the three stooges but continued on with what he was doing...

Jack straightened from rubbing his sore ankle and grumbled, "She wanted to apologize to you."

"Don't you mean that _you_ wanted to apologize to me?" Daniel questioned, bitingly.

"That too," Jack said, apologetically.

"Well," Daniel said cheerfully, "I don't accept."

Yeesh, the doc could hold a grudge... O'ahka sneezed. "Bless you," Teal'c said, but both Daniel and Jack stared at her oddly.

"What?" she questioned in paranoia. She rubbed her nose and grumbled, "My nose itches."

"Are you wearing Daniel Jackson's spectacles?" Teal'c inquired.

O'ahka shoved the slipping glasses back up onto the bridge of her nose. "They're an old pair, I think."

Daniel stopped curling the weight. "Why are you wearing a pair of my glasses?"

Jack interrupted, "You haven't apologized yet, O'."

"Daniel, I'm sorry I got you and General O'Neill in a fight. I was just trying to help, _really_." She hugged her own chest and gazed at the floor avidly.

"It's okay," Daniel said, "Though... I'm not sure I can trust your motives."

"Do you think I'm a Goa'uld?" she questioned, sounding panicked.

"I didn't say that--" Daniel began.

"I can read your thoughts!" O'ahka protested.

Jack interjected, "Maybe we should go get you that supper you asked for, O'."

She glared back at him. "I'm not hungry." She sneezed again.

"Bless you," Daniel murmured, appraising her with an odd expression.

Wiping her nose on her arm, O'ahka gasped and a second later sneezed twice in a row. "My head feels all stuffy," she complained then rubbed her eyes with her knuckles. "My eyes are i--i--" She sneezed. "Itchy."

"O'ahka," Daniel said, ignoring her complaints, "Does the first line of your grave marker say, 'O'ahka, child of the stars, resting here, but never ours'?"

She gasped and looked at him with bleary eyes. "How did you know that?"

"I think I want to go back to the planet and have another look at O'ahka's gravestone." He looked up at Jack, questioningly. "If that's all right with you," he said, not sounding as if he really gave a flip _what_ Jack's answer would be.

Jack gritted his teeth then smiled sweetly. "Sure, go ahead. First thing tomorrow sound good?"

O'ahka went into another sneezing fit. "Yeah," Daniel agreed.

"Only," Jack said, eyeing the sneezing girl. "I think I'll go with you. Teal'c and Carter might as well come along too."

Daniel glared, and O'ahka sniffled then sneezed again. Daniel got to his feet and took the hand she wasn't using to wipe her runny nose. "Let's go get you some antihistimines."

o o o

While Dr. Brightman was giving O'ahka an antihistimine shot, Sam explained to Daniel what she was doing in the infirmiry. "O'ahka has your eye problem, and now you say that she's acting as if she's got allergies too?"

"That's right," Daniel answered, nodding his head.

Sam tilted her chin up slightly then took a breath and said, "I have a theory, but I'll wait until Dr. Brightman gives me those test results before I tell you anything."

"What sort of test are you talking about?" Daniel asked, eyeing O'ahka over Sam's left shoulder. The girl was holding a cotton swab to her left, upper arm and listening to Dr. Brightman tell her, "Hold that there for a second."

"I'll tell you later, Daniel," Sam answered, sounding like a mother scolding her son.

He gave her a wry smile and motioned toward O'ahka, "Well, Dr. Brightman's almost done there, so I'm going to go ahead and take our little guest to the mess hall. She's been asking for lunch."

"She's been asking for lunch since breakfast," Sam responded with amusement. She'd decided that the girl had just been using eating as a way of avoiding Jack's questions.

"You're welcome to join us," Daniel offered.

Sam gave a small shrug. "Why not?"

o o o

A few minutes later, they sat in the dining area with Teal'c beside Daniel, and Carter and O'ahka sitting opposite them. O'ahka picked at the food on her plate with her fork and sniffled apathetically.

Daniel asked, "Feel sleepy?"

The girl nodded, not even bothering to look up. Sam tossed Daniel a questioning look when he didn't say anything further, and he explained, "The allergy shot--it's probably making her drowsy."

"I feel funny," O'ahka mumbled, "I don't like human medicine."

"Me neither," Daniel sympathized, but said, "You'd better try to eat though, or you'll get woozy."

O'ahka gave him a horrified glance and stuck a forkful of greenbeans into her mouth. She chewed slowly and exaggeratedly then swallowed as if she were being tortured. Sam turned her head to hide her smile, and Teal'c raised a brow.

"Colonel Carter, does O'ahka's appearance not strike you as familiar?" Teal'c wondered, eyeing the girl critically.

O'ahka coughed and grabbed her glass of O.J. She gulped some down and then coughed again. Sam patted her on the back and wondered, "Are you okay?"

The girl nodded and wiped at her watering eyes. Sam told Teal'c, cryptically, "She does remind me of someone, yes."

Daniel asked, curiously, "Who?" And Sam had a hard time not bursting into laughter at the huge-eyed look on O'ahka's face.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow, and Sam covered her mouth in an effort to stifle the giggles. "What?" Daniel asked with the air of someone who was missing something. Sam choked a bit then let out a short snicker.

"_What_?"

o o o

After lunch they decided to teach O'ahka a few human games to keep her company and ensure that she didn't get bored. Sam and Daniel had a pretty clear idea that a bored O'ahka wasn't a _good_ one.

"Go fish," O'ahka said, smiling like her life depended on it.

Sam had a feeling she had another set. She took a card from the middle pile and looked over her hand. "Do you have a monkey?" she questioned.

"No," O'ahka replied, gleefully, "Go fish." Sam picked another card from the middle deck.

"You know," she said, sorting through her hand, "I'm not sure we're following the rules."

Daniel said, "I think it was supposed to be my turn."

"Oh," Sam said, blushing. It was a dark day when one couldn't remember the rules of a simple card game.

Daniel asked, "Sam, do you have a monkey?"

"Darn," she muttered and handed over her three monkeys.

Daniel smirked a bit and put down his completed set of monkeys. O'ahka giggled and asked, "Sam, do you have an elephant?"

Samantha Carter blushed bright red and relinquished all of her elephants. "I think those IQ tests were wrong." Daniel gave her a smiley look, and she wondered, sweetly, "Do you have a zebra, Daniel?"

His amused look vanished, and he handed over two zebra cards. "You play dirty."

"You get too cocky," she retorted and asked, "O'ahka, do you have a hippo?"

O'ahka replied, "I quit. I know what all your cards are." She smiled at them and folded her hand. "Who should I bequeath my hand to?"

Sam and Daniel glanced at each other then a moment later began to grin. They folded their hands. "I quit," they both said at the same time.

"Jinx," Sam said, and O'ahka looked at her oddly.

"It means," Daniel began to explain then stopped when he saw understanding cross the girl's face.

"Oh," she said, and pushed up her slipping glasses.

"Maybe you'd like to take a nap?" Sam wondered, hopefully.

O'ahka nodded. Daniel said, "I'll clean up."

"I'll help you with the bed," Sam told O'ahka, rising and pulling the covers back from the bunk.

O'ahka climbed up onto the bed then turned and pulled off her leather sandals. She tucked her feet beneath the covers, and Sam pulled them up to her chin. "Do you want me to stick around?" She removed Daniel's spare glasses from the girl's face and placed them on the little dresser beside the bed.

O'ahka replied, "No, I'll be okay... You'll come to wake me up?"

"Mmm-hmm," Sam agreed. Daniel finished tidying up and turned to them. He smiled at the sleepy child and said, "Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite."

She smiled back at him wanly and closed her eyes. A moment later, her mouth went slack and her breathing evened out. Sam said quietly, "Do you think her intentions are well-meaning?"

Daniel shrugged and motioned toward the doorway for them to leave. Sam shook her head. "I'm going to stay with her." For a moment, she experienced deja-vu, and realized a similar circumstance had happened when she'd been watching Cassandra.

Back then, Daniel had so eagerly offered her his help, but she'd been so determined to be self-reliant and independent. She'd pushed him away, and none to subtlely at that. "Daniel..." she began, quietly, but stopped. She wasn't sure exactly what to say to him.

Should she apologize for a moment in the past that he probably wouldn't even remember? No. But she could do something now to maybe change things for the better. At least in herself. "Hang around with me?"

Daniel blinked at her and questioned, "You sure?" Oh... Hadn't it been the opposite he was asking that question to before? It sort of hurt to remember it--the irony.

"Yes," she answered, pulling up a chair next to O'ahka's bed and seating herself.

Daniel smiled uncertainly but without sarcasm or wit as was his custom. He pulled a chair up to the other side of the bed and took a seat as well. "She looks like a normal little kid," he observed, his eyes on O'ahka. "It's hard to imagine exactly _what_ her intentions are."

"Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if I'd kept Cassie?" Sam questioned, definitely surprising herself. Daniel shifted uncomfortably, so Sam redefined, "Not that I'm saying Janet didn't deserve her. If anyone didn't deserve her, it was me..."

"Sam," Daniel began carefully, "It wasn't that you wouldn't have been a great mother... You just had different priorities back then--your career, your life goals..."

"Our fight with the Goa'uld," Sam put in, sighing. She gazed down at the sleeping child, and wondered once again how something so enigmatic and strange could look so innocent... Still, she had an unearthly quality to her, as if she were an angel taking up temporary residence. "How could I think about having kids when I could go off on some mission that I might not come back from?"

"I don't know," Daniel answered the rhetorical question, but she knew he understood what she was telling him by his reply. He'd thought about the same things and come up with the same answers. They just couldn't risk having children until they were sure that the world they brought them into would be a safe one.

"But don't you still want that?" Sam questioned, knowing that she _did_. She picked up one of O'ahka's hands tentatively and readjusted it to a more comfortable position. One day she wanted to be a mother...

Daniel's next words startled her out of her reverie and made her blood run cold.

"I wanted that with Sha're."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **So I thought about what I wanted to do next, and I thought up something wicked. Incidentally, you won't find out what it is until the next chapter. Heheh. So I hope you enjoy this one enough to tide you over. _Misao-incarnate._

o o o

When Daniel, Teal'c, Carter, O'ahka and Jack all converged in the gateroom the next morning to go through the stargate back to O'ahka's gravesite, of the five of them, only two weren't averting their eyes from each other. Those two were O'ahka and Teal'c, but it wasn't like the pair had much to say to one another, anyway, so a tense, stifled atmosphere prevailed.

Jack was relieved when they stepped through the wormhole. At least they didn't have to pretend they weren't talking to each other then. Daniel wondered when they were on the other side, "Sam, didn't you say something about a test that Dr. Brightman was running for you?"

"Oh, she still needs another twelve hours," Carter replied, "So it'll probably be done by tonight."

"Do you believe this test will reveal some pertinent information?" Teal'c asked, while scanning the countryside.

O'ahka grumbled, "It won't."

Carter ignored her and replied, "Yes, pretty certain."

"I think you're hiding something, demon-child," Jack directed at O'ahka.

"Leave me alone, you big, ugly giant," O'ahka shot back at him.

"Stop it, you two," Daniel scolded, starting forward in the direction of the ruins.

"She started it," Jack said under his breath. Carter gave him a look, and he shrugged. She shook her head and turned away, and he got the feeling she'd just given him a silent, 'Grow up.'

Man. Why was everyone so strung up this morning, anyway? At least Teal'c was still steady as a rock... "T," he said, catching up to the taller man, "Heard any good jokes lately?"

Before long, they'd reached the ruins, and Daniel went straight to crouching in front of one of the large stones. "O'ahka, child of the stars," he read aloud, glancing at O'ahka with a funny expression. "Resting here, but never ours."

O'ahka seated herself on the grass and began to fidget by plucking everything green out of the brown. "She could not die, but is asleep. Who can wake her from her dream?" Daniel finished translating, and looked up at Sam.

"What do you think that means?" He looked at the girl. "I get the part about you not being able to die, but that last line is rather ambiguous."

O'ahka threw a handful of grass at him and answered a bit petulantly, "Figure it out."

"She's such a brat," Jack said in exasperation.

Sam murmured, "Well... dream... Dreaming is like reality, but it's really _not_ reality. So if you could never wake from it, it would seem like something real." Her eyes went round. "But you would still feel as if it _weren't_ real."

Daniel chewed on his bottom lip, thoughtfully and stared at the gravestone. "Never being able to die would be like never being able to wake up from a dream."

O'ahka shot to her feet and yelled, "Why couldn't you just leave it alone? You had to come back here and ruin everything!" She started running away, and Jack caught her by the back of her tunic. She twisted, but unable to free herself, turned enough so that she could kick him in the leg. "Let me go!"

Daniel stood to his feet and questioned, "Were you posing as their goddess, O'ahka?"

"They _mistook_ me for a goddess," O'ahka responded, still trying to extract herself from Jack's grip. "So I stayed here and tried to teach them as much as I could without screwing up their civilization." She tried kicking Jack again, but he dodged.

"What happened to you?" Carter asked, "Why did you... fall asleep?"

"Perhaps her form was not suited for her surroundings," Teal'c suggested. O'ahka glared at him.

"He's right--I was nothing but a sliver of ethereal rainbows. No wonder they thought I was a god. I could only speak with them by telepathy... And only certain people were receptive enough to understand me. I was growing weak because that form was only suited for my home planet, but it was destroyed." She stopped fighting Jack, and he carefully released her. She stood there, hugging herself. "I had nowhere else to go. I actually welcomed the thought of dying, but... all I did was scatter away into the earth and fall asleep."

"But I woke you up," Daniel finished her tale for her.

She nodded and bit her lip. "We should head back now," Carter suggested.

Jack agreed, "That doesn't explain why you have a physical body now."

O'ahka was silent, and Carter put in, "I think I have an explanation for that, sir. If you can wait a little while to hear it?" she posed it as a question.

Sighing, Jack nodded. "Why not?"

o o o

O'ahka stretched and yawned. She blinked open her eyes and realized she wasn't wearing the glasses. "Daniel?" she questioned, panicking and sitting up quickly.

"Here," he said, a big blob coming to stand beside her. He slipped the lenses over her eyes, and he came into focus.

"Thank you," she mumbled. He ruffled her hair.

"No problem. Did you have a good nap?" he asked, smiling at her.

"Mm-hmm," she replied. She yawned again and watched Daniel return to his puttering. He seemed sad, but she couldn't fix on to any of his thoughts like usual. She tried a wider range, searching for Teal'c, Sam, and Jack, but couldn't sense any of their thoughts either.

"You hungry?" Daniel turned from his puttering to ask her. O'ahka rubbed her tummy and then poked its center, staring at it fixedly.

"I don'no... Does it gurgle and feel watery when you're hungry?"

When she looked up again, Daniel was giving her an incredulous look. "I thought you would know by now. Weren't you hungry all day yesterday?"

"Nope," she replied, smiling cheerfully, "The medicine stopped me from being hungry. And the day before that, I still wasn't used to this body enough to notice."

"I'm not even going to ask if you've been to the bathroom yet," Daniel muttered, and O'ahka blushed.

"This morning--" she began, and he held up a hand to cut her off. She giggled because he was even more embarrassed than she was, it seemed. "Daniel, these clothes," she pointed at her light-blue, unrefined silk tunic and skirt, "Are getting dirty... Is there anything else I can wear?"

Daniel blinked at her and then said, "I suppose I could go shopping..."

"I need underthings too," O'ahka told him, flatly. He blushed.

"Or I could get Sam to go," he changed his mind.

O'ahka perked up. "Can I go with her?"

Daniel sighed. "You can't leave the base, remember?" O'ahka, crestfallen, stared at her lap. "I'll ask Jack if maybe he can get you cleared to go offbase." She perked up, and he held up a finger. "But it won't be soon enough for you to go with Sam even if he agrees."

O'ahka grinned and started singing, _Alouette, gentille Alouette, Alouette, je te plumerai..._ Daniel gave her an odd look and said, "Let's go get you some lunch."

o o o

When Carter told him where she was going, Jack decided to come along. They were at the store now, picking out play clothes for a little girl who wasn't even theirs. They could have just found some used clothes somewhere. There were plenty of people at the SGC who thought O'ahka was as cute as a button and would've been willing to lend her some hand-me-downs.

But here they were, buying her brand new clothes... Maybe he felt guilty about Daniel and was overcompensating, Jack reasoned. It was hard to tell. It was hard to tell where his feelings about his son, Charlie, ended and where ones about Daniel began.

"This looks cute," Jack pointed out, but Sam gave him one of those, "you have no clue what you're talking about" looks.

She held up another blouse that was similar to the one he'd shown her and asked, "How about this one?" It was his turn to give _her_ a look.

"That's awfully flirty for a seven year old," he supplied.

She looked at it again and shrugged. "It's not like she has a boyfriend already."

"You sure about that?" Daniel _had_ said that she claimed to have been about twenty when she fell asleep.

Sam only grinned but put the blouse back on the hanger rack. They moved on. Jack started to take another blouse off of a rack to show Carter when she turned and asked him, "Are you and Daniel still angry with each other?"

"I think he _wants_ to stay angry with me," Jack said, quietly, worried other shoppers might eavesdrop.

"Why?" Sam questioned, taking the blouse from him and pretending to look at it.

"I think he's afraid I'm going to die on _him_," Jack replied with dripping irony.

"Oh," Carter said. She handed the blouse back to him. "This one is nice. Let's go find some jeans." They'd already found about three other blouses. Jack tossed the latest one in their cart and followed Sam to the pants.

"I need to figure out a way to convince him that I'll be here to the end of time," Jack continued dryly.

Sam picked up a pair of jeans and examined them. "It's not possible. I doubt Daniel would stop worrying even if you quit the stargate program."

"Do you worry?" Jack questioned, the thought only then occuring to him. She smiled at him wanly, and he had his answer.

"By the way, what was that test you were running on O's blood?" Carter gave him a mischievous glance and replied, "Tonight, sir. And not a moment sooner."

Darn, but the woman could keep a secret.

o o o

Jack and Sam stopped by Daniel's office to find O'ahka and have her try on her new clothes. When she went into the storage closet to try them on though, she called out a few moments later, sounding rather panicked, "Sam?"

Carter peeked her head inside the closet, and Jack and Daniel exchanged glances. "What is--? Heh." Carter slipped inside the storage room and then slipped back out again looking like the cat who'd swallowed the bird.

"I _was_ going to help her," she said, smirking evilly, "But then I remembered that Daniel has a his polaroid camera in here somewhere."

"What are you going to do?" Daniel asked suspiciously, already looking around for his camera.

O'ahka slipped out of the bathroom questioning, "Sam? Weren't you going to help me put it on right?"

Jack blinked and then cracked up. She was wearing her blouse inside out, backwards, _and_ she had her head through a sleeve. Meanwhile, her pants were right-side out, however, they happened to be a patterned material. It seemed, Jack mused, that two types of flower-prints didn't necessarily go together just because they were both flowers.

Daniel held back his smile as he handed over the camera to Sam, who soon after took a snap-shot of the baffled-looking girl. "Sam," she questioned, "Why is everyone laughing?"

"Oh," Sam declared, innocently, "No reason... Let's go get you fixed up." She took another snap shot, this time of Daniel and Jack looking veiledly amused, then handed the camera back to Daniel and led O'ahka into their temporary changing room.

"Women," Jack murmured happily, and Daniel looked as if maybe he agreed.

o o o

As Sam headed for the infirmary that evening, she mused that, all in all, the modelling show that afternoon had gone nicely. O'ahka was practically preening in her new clothing, and Sam wasn't quite sure who was more pleased with themselves--her and Jack or the little girl with her brand new wardrobe.

She located Dr. Brightman who was patching up an airman's minor injury then waited until she was finished up with him. After the airman had thanked the doctor and left, Sam approached Brightman, wondering, "Are the test results back yet?"

Brightman nodded and replied, "I'll go get those for you right now." She left Sam standing around, and returned a moment later with a folder. She handed it over to the Colonel, and Sam opened it.

She looked it over and then looked it over again. "Is this right?"

"Very. I double-checked it," Brightman assured her.

Sam swallowed and asked, "Do you have a theory?"

"I don't really need theories with that evidence," Dr. Brightman said, "But I think she was responsible."

Sam nodded and murmured a thank you to Brightman and asked, "Can I keep this?"

"Of course," Brightman answered, and Sam wandered out of the infirmary. She felt disjointed from reality. What was she going to tell Daniel? _How_ was she going to tell Daniel? Her mind reeled at the thought of how he might react.

And what would happen to O'ahka? Sam was pretty sure if she went back to her original form, she would fade away like she had the first time. But was it right to let her stay the way she was, especially in light of this discovery?

Sam wasn't sure, but that wasn't what was truly bothering her. What made her the most unsettled was wondering if this was her second chance.

o o o

_line from the french children's song--"Alouette". It means: Lark, nice Alouette lark, I will pluck you, Alouette..._ Or something like that because I found the translation online instead of looking them up myself. Lazy, so lazy...


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Okay, very sorry about the late update, but I was having unforseen trouble writing the next part. And I know I'm going to regret posting this before finishing the next chapter, but I decided it was high time I gave you guys another chp. Hope you like and please review. Misao-incarnate.

o o o

"Mmm," Daniel grumbled, and glared at O'ahka, who had thrown yet another wad of wet paper at him. Her co-conspiritor, Jack, gave her a sideways grin and tore off another little piece from his supply of note-book paper. He handed it across to O'ahka beneath Daniel's desk, slyly.

She giggled and took it, apparently rolling it up into a tiny, little ball underneath the table. Daniel rolled his eyes and tried to go back to his work. A second later, a wet little white obstruction splatted onto the surface of his glasses and stuck there like a miniature suction cup.

Daniel took off his glasses and wiped them on the end of his shirt, all the while listening to the unsuccessfully stifled giggles of a certain little girl. "Jack," he said in light exasperation, "Would you cut it out?"

"Me?" Jack protested, feigning uninvolvement, "O'ahka's been throwing the spit-balls the whole time."

Teal'c assured Daniel from his seat on the couch, "I was watching from the beginning, and it was indeed O'ahka who was throwing the projectiles." Yeah, and Jack had been the one feeding her the paper the whole time. What was it? The glasses? Did they automatically awaken some primal child to teacher instinct that made one want to throw spit-balls and raise their hand a million times to ask to go to the bathroom, thereby, interrupting his extremely, well, pretty important work?

Had to be.

"See?" Jack questioned, gloating.

O'ahka watched Daniel. He looked like he was trying to come up with a witty retort, but then he shut his mouth as if changing his mind. She wondered what he'd been about to say. She couldn't read anyone's thoughts anymore, though. The longer she stayed like this, the more human she became.

And that wasn't necessarily a good thing...

"O'ahka?" Sam questioned, and she looked up to find the Colonel standing in the doorway to Daniel's office, holding a folder in her right hand. She held it up, indicating to O'ahka that this was the topic she needed to discuss with her. "Will you come talk to me for a minute?"

O'ahka tossed a nervous glance in Daniel's direction, knowing with an almost flawless certainty what Sam wanted to talk to her about. Daniel merely gave her a questioning look then shrugged, so she slipped out of her chair and walked to Sam.

Samantha dropped a hand onto her shoulder and led her out into the hall and down it a ways, out of earshot. It was probably her intention to keep Daniel, Jack, and Teal'c from overhearing what she had to say.

O'ahka swallowed, finding her mouth strangely dry. She also noticed that her hands were trembling a little and rather damp, so she tucked them under her armpits. "What is it, Sam?" she questioned, timidly.

Samantha wondered, "Were you ever going to tell Daniel that you took his DNA to create your own body?"

O'ahka gasped and her lower lip started to tremble. "I didn't know it was wrong..."

Sam knelt in front of her, set the folder on the floor beside them and took O'ahka's arms in her hands. "It's okay, but I need to know something... I had Dr. Brightman check for a match with my blood, but it turned out to be negative. Whose DNA did you use for your surrogate mother?"

O'ahka knew she'd done something terrible the second she'd had that conversation with Sam in the mess hall that day. But at the time she hadn't felt the need to reveal her secret to anyone. After all, if she changed back into her natural form, it wouldn't matter anymore... Well, that was the excuse she'd used to mollify her guilty conscience, at least.

She felt like such a fake, but she just couldn't bring herself to tell Sam the truth. "But I only took Daniel's DNA," she lied.

Sam gave her a skeptical look and said, "Your DNA didn't match up with Daniel's perfectly. You _can't_ be his clone, anyway. You're a girl."

O'ahka blushed and stared at her feet. She didn't want Sam to hate her. And if she told her what she'd done, she would. And then she would tell Daniel, and Daniel would hate her too. "All right," Sam told her, and O'ahka glanced up at her in surprise.

"What?" she questioned the Colonel.

"If you don't want to tell the truth to me then that's fine," Sam told her, "But I think you should tell Daniel everything."

O'ahka shook her head, and Sam sighed. "I won't make you," she said. "I won't even tell him myself, okay?"

"Okay..." O'ahka answered uncertainly. Sam rose to her feet and held out her hand to O'ahka. She took it hesitantly and followed Sam down the hallway back to Daniel's office.

When they entered, Daniel wondered, "Is everything all right?"

Sam looked down at O'ahka, giving her a "go ahead" look, but O'ahka just nodded. She couldn't tell him... at least not yet. She glanced up at Sam guiltily and then away again.

Jack questioned, "What's going on? Carter, did you get those test results back yet?"

Sam nodded. "I'll tell you about it later," she said, and O'ahka felt grateful. Why would Sam cover for her if she was angry?

Daniel frowned slightly, and then turned to Jack. "I've been meaning to ask you if O'ahka could get cleared to go offbase. Since she's human and passed all the physicals...?"

"O'? Go offbase?" Jack asked, grimacing a bit. O'ahka ran over to him and grabbed his hand in both of hers.

"Please? Please, can I?" she begged. "I know you're not mad at me anymore! I want to see what your planet looks like outside." She hated that whiney note in her voice, but she couldn't seem to hold it back.

Jack gave her a long, speculative gaze but then said, "Maybe."

O'ahka groaned loudly, abruptly dropping Jack's hands. "You are _so_ mean," she grumbled.

Daniel mentioned, "I've noticed that you haven't been picking up on our thoughts, lately..." O'ahka froze. "Is that because you're becoming more human?" She looked at him sharply, and saw that his expression was simply curious.

Feeling less threatened, O'ahka nodded. "Yeah..." She yawned, and then glanced at the clock on the wall. It was nearly nine pm. Speaking of... "I'm sort of tired."

Sam said from beside her, "Let's get you to bed then." O'ahka took her hand on her own this time, and Sam smiled at her.

She glanced at Daniel, but he remained seated. She decided he wasn't going to come with them this time to tuck her in. Sighing, she started to turn, when Jack rose and volunteered, "I'll go with you."

Daniel glanced at him quickly, his mouth dropping in surprise. Sam merely nodded, "Sure." When Sam gave Daniel a furtive glance, though, O'ahka impulsively broke free and ran back to him.

What was it human children did before going to bed? She'd only remembered bits and pieces from Daniel and Sam's thoughts and memories. She was afraid that she was going to get this terribly mixed up, but she had to try, anyway.

Climbing into Daniel's lap, and blatantly ignoring his surprise, she balanced herself with her hands on his shoulders and whispered in his ear, "If I should die before I wake, I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take... Amen." Was she forgetting something? She wondered, drawing back and smiling at Daniel proudly.

Her smile caught on her teeth then faded when she saw the striken look on his face. His eyes were wide and a little worried, and for some reason it scared her. She started to hop off of his lap in mortification, and found herself smothered in a bear hug.

"Goodnight, O'ahka," he whispered back to her. So, that's what you were supposed to say.

"Goodnight," she piped back at him a bit breathlessly because he was squeezing her sort of hard. He released her, and smiled a sheepish half-grin. She scampered back to Sam, feeling embarrassed and confused. She _had_ said the wrong thing, but she couldn't understand why it had upset Daniel so much.

Oh, well... She would figure it out later.

o o o

"Sam... ?" O'ahka's question pulled Samantha back into the little girl's temporary room. Jack had told them both good night a few minutes earlier and gone off to his office.

"Yes?" she asked, switching the light back on. O'ahka peaked at her from beneath the covers she was holding all the way up to beneath her eyes.

"What are little kids supposed to say to grownups before they go to bed?"

Maybe this had something to do with the scene from earlier, O'ahka climbing onto Daniel's lap and thereafter causing a shocked expression to appear on his face. It would have been comical if it weren't so spooky. "Well, 'goodnight' is a good place to start," Sam told her, uncertain about what she was really asking.

O'ahka lowered the covers to her mouth. "I thought there was a prayer, too?"

"Yeah..." Sam blinked. Suspiciously, she questioned, "What prayer did you say to Daniel?"

O'ahka repeated the words in a mumbled voice, but it was pretty obvious what it was just from the familiar rhythm. "Oh, gosh," Sam muttered. "O'ahka... You don't go around saying that when people are unsure if you're going to actually _last_ through the night."

O'ahka sat up, letting the blanket drop the rest of the way. "Why _wouldn't_ I live?"

"You're the one who told us that you could fade away again at any moment," Sam reminded her.

O'ahka looked pale as she contradicted in a subdued tone, "That's only if I'm in my original state..."

Sam rolled her eyes to the ceiling, wondering, _'Why me?'_ "I think you freaked Daniel out a little bit, but don't worry. He'll get over it..."

"I didn't mean to do that," O'ahka said, sorrowfully.

"It's okay," Sam assured her, feeling slightly guilty for not knowing what else to say.

O'ahka sniffled. "I'm sorry."

This she could respond to, Sam realized, then walked back to O'ahka, leaned down and gave her a hug. She kissed O'ahka's cheek and told her, "Good night."

"Good night," O'ahka responded, giving Sam a peck on the cheek.

Sam slipped out of the room, turning off the light.

o o o

Jack dropped by Daniel's office in the morning. "Hey," he greeted cheerfully. Then upon realizing Daniel was hybernating among his nest of books, he tapped him on the shoulder just to see if he could scare him awake.

"Go away..." Daniel grumbled somewhat incoherently.

"I came to tell you that your little alien girl has permission to go off base now," Jack dangled the carrot. Usually it took coffee to get Daniel to wake up this quickly...

"What?" Daniel questioned, sitting up and straightening his glasses then taking them off to rub his eyes.

"O' can go offbase... But make sure you take Teal'c or Carter with you too," Jack told the archeologist.

Daniel blinked. "Oh... I should go get her then... What time is it?" He slipped his glasses back on and glanced over at the clock.

"Nine... you stayed up late, didn't you?" Jack questioned.

Daniel gave him an evasive glare. "I was working." More likely he was worrying. About what, Jack didn't know. But he could guess... O' had said something to him the other night that had freaked him out.

"I'm going to go find O'ahka," Daniel told him, standing up and straightening his rumpled shirt.

"Sure, go right ahead," Jack shot the sarcastic parting comment at Daniel's back. Daniel ignored him, and Jack wished he'd just said "okay."

o o o

Daniel expected O'ahka to be up already, bugging Sam in her office. But when he got there, Sam told him that she'd checked on O'ahka a couple hours ago and she'd still been asleep.

Daniel's heart seemed to trip over itself for a few beats then started up again in supermode. Why was he overreacting like this? She was probably just sleeping late... But didn't young children wake up earlier than this? He had no idea...

"Daniel?" Sam wondered, abandoning the project she was working on and following him out into the hall.

He started jogging for O'ahka's room, and Sam told him, "I'm sure she's okay..." But she didn't _sound_ certain.

"I just have this feeling," Daniel mumbled.

They reached the door to O'ahka's room, and Daniel jerked it open and hurried inside. His breath caught at the sight of her. She was curled up on her side beneath the blankets, and her face was flushed and glistening with sweat.

But that wasn't what had caused his heart to stop... Her hair had darkened to a medium brown and her skin tone had become a pale olive. But most disturbing of all, instead of the slightly wavy lengths of hair she'd previously had, curls tumbled across her face, over the pillows and her shoulders.

"O'ahka..." Sam whispered.

Daniel bit back his question. Had Sam already known? He clenched his teeth and sat on the edge of O'ahka's bed. He brushed the hair away from her face and told Sam, "She has a fever."

Sam suggested optimistically, "It might be from changing... Her body might just need more time to adjust." He hoped she was right and this wasn't some sideaffect from what O'ahka had done to herself.

"How did she do it?" he asked, standing up, pulling back the covers, and lifting O'ahka into his arms.

"I think she took your DNA so that she could make herself human..." Sam answered reticently. "I told her I wouldn't tell," she explained at Daniel's sharp look.

He changed the subject, "I'm taking her to the infirmary just in case this isn't supposed to happen."

Why hadn't Sam told him first? Why had she gone to O'ahka? Was this because she wanted to keep her? Maybe because she hadn't gotten to keep Cassie... He tried not to be angry, and realized it wasn't exactly anger or betrayal he was feeling. It was jealousy. Why had O'ahka trusted Sam with her secret over him?

o o o


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **E-gad, can you _imagine_ what I'd do to SG-1 if it _did_ belong to me? Oh, and **goodies and answers to reviews at the bottom of this chp.** -_Misao-incarnate._

o o o

After reaching the infirmary, they relinquished O'ahka into the hands of Dr. Brightman and her nurses. They ran all sorts of tests and came up with nothing but a high-grade fever that was steadily dropping back down to a normal temperature.

Sam took turns with Daniel in watching the sleeping girl. She got the feeling that he was resenting her being there for some reason. Was he still mad at her for not telling him when she'd found out that O'ahka was his daughter? If so, then she could certainly understand why.

She would have been angry with him if he'd pulled the same stunt on her. Hopefully he would forgive her soon. She didn't really doubt that he would; Daniel just wasn't the type to hold a grudge if he could help it. It was just a pain to be around him while he was mad about something. There was the pouting and the ever sharper sarcasm to deal with. Daniel could be terribly hard-headed if he chose.

Finally, O'ahka's fever dropped down to normal, and Dr. Brightman said that she would probably wake up soon. The strained look on Daniel's face seemed to fall away, and Sam felt herself relax as well.

They had become so attached to O'ahka so quickly... Were they really that needy or was it just human nature to want to care for and protect their children? At the moment, Sam didn't really care. She was just glad that O'ahka would be okay.

o o o

O'ahka opened her eyes and found herself looking at a pair of accusing blue ones. Uh, oh... Something had happened, and she didn't know what.

"Daniel?" she asked in a groggy sounding voice.

"Your eyes are still blue," he said, sadly almost. She started to sit up, but he caught her shoulders and pushed her back down. "Dr. Brightman says you'll be all right, but you need to rest."

"That means no outing today," Jack said, approaching from behind Daniel.

Daniel glanced up long enough to glower at him then looked back at O'ahka more kindly. "How are you feeling?"

Her eyes were _still_ blue? What was going on? And then she realized that she could see much better, and she wasn't even wearing any glasses. That was when it occurred to her that she must have changed some more. In fact, she must have gone through the last stage of becoming human. Which meant... "Oh, no..." she muttered under her breath.

Sam questioned from the other side of the bed, "What is it? Do you feel okay?"

O'ahka glanced up at her with wide eyes. "I can't change back now... I didn't mean to wait for so long..." Who was she kidding? Changing back meant leaving, and she hadn't _wanted_ to go.

She saw Daniel and Sam exchange a glance, and wondered what it meant. Daniel looked back at the General and asked, "Dr. Brightman said she needed to rest... If she can go off base now, can I take her to my place?"

Sam said before Jack could answer, "It would be more comfortable for her... I know O'ahka doesn't like the infirmary."

Was she sick? What were they talking about? Letting her go stay with Daniel? Humans were so strange... She would never get used to this. Why had she made herself human? She was such an idiot!

"Why not?" Jack answered, "Guess I'll come along for the ride too. But later, I've got lots of important... stuff to do."

"Sam?" Daniel asked, and she nodded.

"I'll help O'ahka pack her things," she added, and then held out a hand to O'ahka. She took it and Sam helped her out of the bed. As she walked with her out of the infirmary, O'ahka glanced back to look at Daniel. Why was he watching her that way? With such pain behind his eyes... Was it because she reminded him of _her_?

She would have to look in a mirror before she could be sure...

o o o

The car ride freaked O'ahka out at first, but then she calmed down and looked like she was enjoying it a great deal. Daniel was glad... He didn't want the world to frighten her. If she couldn't adjust to her new life, then she would have some serious issues. And a psychiatrist's office was the last place he wanted to send her...

Sam wondered, "Do you want to stop at the grocery store and get some ice cream?"

"Hunh?" Daniel asked, and she shrugged, adjusting her grip on the wheel.

"What's ice cream?" O'ahka questioned from the backseat of Sam's car.

"Oh, just this cold, sweet dessert that we humans like to eat every so often," Sam answered, she turned into a grocery store parking lot.

"Coming in?" she asked Daniel. He gave her a look, but she only grinned at him. Well, he was glad to see _someone_ was having fun. _He_ couldn't help being daunted by the enormous responsibility that had suddenly been dropped into his life.

"Sure," he answered, and got out then helped O'ahka out of the backseat. She took his hand almost automatically, and his heart ached.

Inside the store, O'ahka ran back and forth, up and down the aisles, giggling. She seemed to like the refrigerator section of the store. Sam kept having to close the freezer doors after she'd opened them to peer curiously at the contents within.

"So," she asked the young seeming-child, "What kind of icecream do you want to try?"

"I can have more than one?" O'ahka questioned, looking _way_ too hopeful. Daniel felt a smile tugging at the corner of his lips despite all his anxieties.

"If we get the small ones," Sam said, "But just three... One for Daniel, you, and me."

O'ahka grinned and pointed out a chunky monkey, a java chocolate chunk, and a vanilla ice cream container. "This one is named after the animal on the 'go fish' cards!" she said excitedly. She tried to take the pint of ice cream from Sam and yelped.

Sam chuckled under her breath and warned, "It's cold, O'--" She stopped herself and glanced warily at Daniel. "Do you think maybe we should pick another name...?"

He shrugged, "O', your name is a little odd sounding. It might draw unecessary attention. What do you think about having a different name along with it?"

"Ooh," O'ahka said with a look of unadulterated excitement, "Can I pick it? Will you help?"

"Of course," Daniel replied, feeling that smile forming at the corner of his mouth again. She was such a brat sometimes, and tended to be rather manipulative, but he had to admit, there was just something about her that tugged at his heart.

Impulsively, she grabbed his hand and squeezed it lightly. She wasn't very strong, but he could tell just by the stubborn look she got sometimes, that she was a survivor. Maybe she got that from him... Did she inherit anything else from Sha're besides her looks?

While checking out, O'ahka tugged on Daniel's pants while Sam paid for the icecream. He leaned down, suspecting she wanted to ask him something that would sound strange to anyone who overheard.

She whispered in his ear, "What are these packages on this shelf?" She pointed to the gums and candies displayed on the shelf over the grocery belt.

Daniel smiled mischievously and replied under his breath, "Things that will rott your teeth."

O'ahka gave him a wide-eyed, slightly askance look, then frowned. "You're picking on me!" she exclaimed, with sudden comprehension.

"Not 'picking on'...teasing," Daniel corrected with a waggle of his finger, and heard the cashier mention to Sam, "Your daughter is adorable."

He glanced carefully up at Sam's expression, and saw her looking slightly flushed but smiling. Was she pleased? What did it mean if she was? "Thank you," she murmured, and took her change and receipt then glanced back at Daniel and O'ahka.

"Ready?" she wondered. Daniel nodded and took O's hand as they followed Sam out of the grocery store.

o o o

Sam tried to reason out her reaction to the cashier's observation. Was she wishing that _she_ was O'ahka's mother? If she was, then she was in for some future mental anguish. She couldn't _keep_ O'ahka, but Daniel could. She could visit her every now and then, but it wasn't the same thing as actually raising her.

But there was no denying she was attached already. And if she saw O' as a daughter, then it might cause jealousy issues between her and Daniel. She didn't want to hurt their relationship with this unrequited feeling if she could help it. She certainly hoped she could.

They reached Daniel's house and got out of the car and waited for Daniel to unlock the front door before going in. O'ahka had cheerfully volunteered to hold the bag of icecream and was swinging it back and forth at her side, dangerously. Sam tossed Daniel an amused look and he shrugged, half grinning.

They went inside and O'ahka exclaimed, "This is where you live?" She smiled largely. "It's so pretty! Sam is your home like this too?"

Sam blinked. Did O'ahka think every house looked the same on the inside? "No," she began carefully, "It's a little different... You see, Daniel and I don't own the same things."

"Well," Daniel said, "You own a TV..."

"A TV?" O'ahka wondered, beginning to set the ice cream down on the floor. Sam scooped it out of her hand before it even touched the carpet and started for the kitchen.

O'ahka and Daniel followed her and watched as Sam set the ice cream on the table and got out three spoons from the silverware drawer. "I'll show you in a second," Daniel told her, then pulled out a chair for her to sit in.

She climbed in, watching Sam get the ice cream out of the plastic bag and set them in a row on the table. "Which one do you want to try first?" she asked O'ahka with a grin.

"Uhm..." O'ahka murmured, staring hard at the three containers. "The chunky monkey!"

"What'd'you know," Sam replied, grinning from ear to ear. She worked the top off of the container and held out a spoon to O'ahka. "Now... You eat it like jello... just slower. Got it?"

"Mmhmm..." O'ahka replied, her eyes round from staring at the icecream so hard. She carefully took hold of the icecream as Daniel sat down next to her. Sam stood around, dipping her spoon in the java chocolate chunk ice cream every now and then. But her eyes were on O', anticipating.

"It melts!" O'ahka whispered under her breath. She took a bite, muttered an ouch then took another. "M' teeth," she mumbled around the spoon, but took another bite. Both Sam and Daniel knew what was coming next, but heartlessly remained silent.

As the speed at which O' ate the ice cream increased... "Owww..." She set the spoon down and gripped her head. "My head hurts," she groaned.

Sam hid an evil smile, and Daniel smirked in the background. "Slow down. The cold can give you a temporary headache known as brainfreeze. Got it?"

O'ahka giggled breathlessly. "You were teasing me again," she said through her laughter.

Sam looked at Daniel with questioning innocence. "Were you teasing her?"

"_No_," Daniel said, overly slowly. "Not I."

"You hear that, O'?" Sam said, "No one was teasing you."

O'ahka stuck out her tongue, slightly white with chunky monkey, then returned it to licking her icecream container dry. Daniel grinned, and Sam giggled around her spoon. "Can't wait 'til Jack gets here," Daniel muttered, and Sam raised a brow.

o o o

No "every earth child has to have a dog" today.

He'd promised to come over after work; he'd even escaped a little early. But Jack O'Neill really had no idea how to deal with this new, strange situation. O' was Daniel's kid. Not _just_ Daniel's kid, but Daniel _and_ Sha're's kid.

Except that Sha're had long since passed on, and O'ahka wasn't exactly all human. Maybe her body was now. But up there where her brains resided, there was still something alien about her, even if it was just her memories.

He wasn't even sure if it made sense, let alone if he could learn to accept it. So he'd gotten her a stuffed animal instead of a puppy.

"Bambina!" he greeted at the sight of her joyfully sticky face. She was overshadowed by Daniel, who was standing right behind her and had opened the door.

"Jack!" she yelled, and he had to clear out a ringing ear with his finger. "You came! Come look at what's on the TV! It's the History Channel!"

Grimacing, he asked Daniel, "Is she _hyper_?"

"Three different flavors of ice cream, and she was our main tester," Daniel explained, letting him inside.

Jack shut the door behind him and then called after O', who'd run ahead to the living room, intending to show him the television. "O'! I have something for you." She ran back, and he met her halfway. He noticed Carter smiling up at him from the couch, and waved.

"Hi, sir," she greeted, and he wondered if he would ever break her of that habit when they were off duty.

"Every kid needs one of these," he said, and held out the teddy bear to O'. He'd gotten the softest, cuddliest one he could find. The better for her to mangle it to the point of shreds by dragging it along with her everywhere.

She took the bear carefully and examined its black, shiny nose and shiny, brown eyes. "What is it?" she questioned in hushed wonder. "It's so soft..."

"A teddy bear," Daniel explained, "Say 'thank you' to Jack." They inadvertantly caught each other's eyes, and Jack noticed Daniel smiling imperceptably. That was a good sign. Maybe later he could try and talk with the hard-headed, smart-mouthed archeologist...

"Thank you!" O'ahka exclaimed and hugged Jack's legs. He chuckled and knelt to hug her better. She kissed his cheek and wondered, "What is it for?"

"It's to keep you company," Sam said, coming to stand beside them. "Like a little friend that you can always talk to about everything."

"Oh..." The little girl said, gazing at the bear understandingly. "Like a confidant."

"Well," Jack asked, getting to his feet, "What are you going to name him?"

"It's a boy?" O'ahka questioned, innocently and Sam cracked up. Daniel held back a smile, and Jack blushed.

"Er... Sure, and he needs a name," Jack said, trying to cover his embarrassment.

"I'll name him 'Jack' after you," O'ahka said with a brilliant smile. Sheesh, she was going to be the end of him, really she was.

"Maybe something else..." he suggested. "I already have a mini-me."

Daniel cleared his throat. "Think of another name, O'?"

O'ahka rubbed her face against the bear's head and replied, "Danny Bear."

"Danny Bear?" Daniel asked. It was his turn to blush.

"You know," Jack said with a grin, "That has a nice ring to it." Honestly, he was just relieved that she'd gone ahead and changed the bear's name.

O'ahka beamed and told him, "Like Danny Boy--I got it from you, Jack."

Daniel shot Jack a deadly look before saying, "Speaking of names... we've decided to give O'ahka another one."

"Really?" Jack questioned. He entered the living room and plopped down onto the sofa.

Everyone else followed, O'ahka deliberately curling up beside him and leaning her head on his arm. What a little trouble maker... "Yeah," she murmured, sounding sleepy. "What d'you think's a good name for me?"

"Tow-head?" Jack volunteered.

"Sarah?" O'ahka questioned, and Jack winced. Not a name that held all _good_ memories for either Jack or Daniel.

"No," Daniel said, softly, leaning forward in his seat. "Samantha, maybe?"

Now what was _that_ supposed to mean, Jack wondered, glancing sharply back and forth between Carter and Daniel. It didn't _look_ like anything was going on between them... But then, things could veritably develope overnight.

"Nooo," Sam said, "You don't want to have a nickname that sounds like a boy's name do you, O'?"

"I guess not, but I wouldn't mind having your name, Samantha," O'ahka told her, sweetly, illiciting a beautiful smile on Sam's face.

"Danielle," Sam teased.

"Shut up..." Daniel muttered, then said with a tugging smile at the corners of his lips, "Jacklyn."

"As if naming the bear after me wasn't bad enough," Jack shot back. "Lisa?"

"Diane," Sam said, then glanced toward Daniel.

"Artemis?"

"I'm going to ignore that one," Jack said, dryly, and Daniel gave a suppresed smile and ducked his head.

"My friends and I called ourselves by a special name," O' said.

"What was it?" Sam asked her, curiously.

"An'yel," she said shyly.

"That sounds like..." Daniel began, startled. He glanced at Sam, and she nodded. He said with finality, "Angel."

o o o

**Thank you s for reviewing:**

_ BuubaBwwSmacknone_, _killer angel_, _tixylix_, _eris86_, _ Jenn R_, _Chiianna_, _Myfi geekus Australianus_... Thank you all of you!

** And to answer questions**:

_ tdrm_: Actually, to be honest, I was planning on making O' Sam and Daniel's genetic child, but I changed my mind. Mostly 'cause I'm evil, but because I thought the plot would turn out better that way. :) And guess what? I used to think that's what the song meant, too.

_Seeria Nix_: I'm really not sure what I'm going to do about relationships in this fic. But the reason I put Sam and Daniel as the main characters was because as I wrote, it just came out that way.

**About the song Allouette and other non important stuff: **

Mostly 'cause a couple people have shown an interest, and I _did_ sort of have a motive in putting the song in there, I have decided to explain a bit. When I was a kid, that was one of my favorite songs, so I decided that O'ahka would sort of pick that out of Daniel's brain. She started singing it because she was happy not because she's an evil little alien that wants to kill everyone at the SGC. Although, that would be a good, if creepy plot.(eris86 idea not mine) I wish I had it in me, but I don't. Heh. (Not into violence.) -M.


	9. Epilogue: Good Night

A/N: So, so, sooo not mine. And I'm sorry, guys, but this is going to be the last chapter. Hope you all enjoy it. Reviewer replies at bottom.

o o o

Epilogue--"Good Night"

"Do I have to go to bed now?" O'ahka, now "Angel," whined.

"Yes," Daniel said firmly, even though Sam had opened her mouth to give in. He gave her a stern glance, and she shrugged apologetically.

"We did let her eat all that ice cream; how can we expect her to go to bed early after eating all that sugar?"

Daniel frowned and murmured, argumentatively, "She was falling asleep in Jack's lap."

Jack said from Daniel's right, "The History Channel puts me to sleep too."

"I'm not tired!" Angel yelled, hugging Danny Bear to her chest with a little upward jutting of her chin. The stubborn gesture was such a mirror of Sam's unconscious habit that Daniel was slightly taken aback.

"Yes," he said, holding up a finger, "You are."

It was a clashing of two strong wills, and it was bound to end explosively. Sam and Jack saw it coming and edged backward down the hallway a bit. The four of them stood just outside the guest room in Daniel's house.

They'd gotten Angel as far as the door, under the pretense of showing her around the house more. But as soon as she caught sight of the bed, she'd balked in the doorway. Now her eyes filled with rebellious tears, and she stamped her foot petulantly.

"No! I'm not a little baby, and I don't want to go to sleep right now!"

"You're cranky, and that's because you need to get some rest," Daniel told her, trying to sound calm and failing.

Angel burst into full blown hysterics, flinging herself down on the floor in a flurry of tearful screams. It sounded like she was being murdured, and all Daniel wanted was for her to go to sleep. "Sam...?" he said, looking to the only woman present for immediate tantrum assistance.

"Don't look at me," she said, holding up helpless hands.

She pointed to Jack, but he shrugged and said, "I guess just let her get it out of her system..."

What? Just let her lie there, screaming her head off? And what were the neighbors going to think? Previously unmarried, childless man with suspicious noises emerging from his house at around twelve-thirty in the morning... And besides that... Her crying was unsettling to him in a way he'd never felt before.

Sighing heavily, he scooped Angel off the floor, kicking and screaming and all. He carried her into the guest room and sat down on the bed and cradled her on his lap, rocking back and forth ever so slightly. "Shh... I'm sorry... You don't have to fall asleep right away... And I'll just be down the hall if you need anything."

Angel sobbed into his chest. "I don't... wan' Sam and Jack... to... go...home!"

'Uh, oh,' was Daniel's first thought, but it was immediately proceeded by, 'How am I going to get them to stay?' He glanced up at them, and Jack shrugged.

"I can sleep on the floor, I gue--"

"Jack," Daniel interrupted, "You'd be way too uncomfortable on the floor. Just take my bed. I'll sleep on the floor, and Sam can have the couch... Unless she wants the bed?" He gave her a questioning look, and she raised her brow at him in a very Teal'c-like manner. "Or are you going to stay at all?" he wondered, his heart sinking at the thought.

"Oh," Jack said, quickly, "We'll stay... And if you don't mind, I'll take the bed." Now what was that all about? Did Jack not want Sam to sleep in Daniel's bed because of some territorial male testosterone thing?

Daniel shrugged off the thought and said, "That's up to Sam."

Sam blushed and looked at the floor for a second or two. "I guess you can have the bed, sir... I'd imagine a sofa isn't the most comfortable place to sleep for someone your age." Oops... What was she thinking?

Jack looked blank for a second or two than wondered a bit too calmly, "Someone my age?"

Daniel cleared his throat, nervously. Angel said, "Yea!" She hugged Daniel and Danny Bear and then closed her eyes and almost instantly was snoring softly. Daniel blinked and gently lowered her onto the bed. He pulled off her tennis shoes and then pulled the covers out from beneath her and draped them over her.

After that, he got to his feet and turned back to Sam and Jack, "Still staying? I doubt she'd even notice if you left."

"Now that," Sam said, "Was just amazing. As soon as she got her way..." She shook her head disbelievingly. Daniel caught her surreptitiously glancing at Jack a moment later, and thought maybe she was wondering the same thing he was.

He decided to ask despite his misgivings about how Jack would react. "Was Charlie ever difficult like that?"

Jack's straying attention returned as he focused on Daniel. For a second, there was such a look of a deer being caught in someone's headlights, that Daniel almost apologized. But then Jack said, "Sometimes... But he was a good kid." And then his eyes refocused out of the past and he said, "O', I mean, Angel is more like you."

Sam chuckled, but Daniel frowned. "That's not funny," he grumbled, then ushered them out of Angel's room.

Jack retorted, humorously, "You know you throw tantrums when you don't get your way..."

Sam tried to stifle her giggles as Daniel glowered. "I'll get you a blanket and pillow, Sam."

o o o

Daniel was happy with the sleeping arrangements, but Jack seemed to be having a guilt trip, "Look, it's your bed. So you take it, and I'll crash on the floor."

"Sam would never let me live it down if you ended up sleeping on the floor," Daniel mumbled to him sleepily. He'd already situated himself on the carpet of his bedroom with a blanket beneath him and one on top. Jack had just tossed him one of his own pillows before he'd suggested switching spots.

Daniel fluffed the pillow a bit more roughly than it needed to be fluffed, and Jack said, "Well, you could sleep up here with me. It's not like there's not enough room."

Daniel stopped punching his pillow into shape, stared at Jack blankly for a second or two, and then shot back, "I always knew you were just trying to get me into bed."

Jack reacted by first blinking, and then clenching one side of his jaw. He shrugged. "Fine... If you want to spend the night tossing and turning, that's fine with me." He lay back against the pillows and reached out to turn off the lamp. In the darkness, Daniel heard him ask, "You still mad at me, Daniel?"

Daniel said, "No..." after a moment of thought. "Are you still mad at Angel?"

"No," Jack answered. "And Daniel...?"

"What?"

"I'm not going anywhere."

After a moment, where he wondered how Jack had known what he needed to hear, Daniel replied, "Good."

o o o

He was awakened at four thirty in the morning by panicked screams. "Wha's going on?" he questioned lethargically, already sitting up. It was Angel, his semi-unconscious brain registered, and he started to get out of the bed to get up at the same time Jack wondered, "Is that O'?"

Just then, the door came open and Sam burst in, carrying the crying little girl in her arms. "She had a nightmare," she told them, and made her way to Daniel and handed Angel down to him.

Angel clutched her free arm around his neck--she was already holding Danny Bear in one arm. "I dreamed you left, Daniel," she said, tearfully. "You won't leave, will you?"

His heart faltered and he swallowed. "No, Angel... I promise I won't leave." He hadn't thought of it until that moment, but he knew now that he couldn't abandon her. She was his daughter no matter how it had come about.

"Sam," Angel questioned, "Will you stay too?"

"I'll always be there for you, Angel," Sam promised her with a significant glance at Daniel.

"You too, Jack?" the little girl asked. She seemed to need to hear the reassurance from everyone she cared about.

Jack gave her a mock glare. "Don't you even doubt it, kiddo."

Daniel asked, "You feel like going back to bed, now?"

She shook her head and gazed at him with beseeching blue eyes. "Can I stay here with you and Jack?" Daniel blinked in embarrassment over the way that came out sounding, and wondered if she were going to have issues over this when she grew up...

"How about if Sam stays with you in your room?" he questioned. The guest room's bed was large enough to accomodate a child and an adult.

Angel shook her head. "No. Why can't Sam stay here in this bed, and we can all sleep together?"

Sam blushed furious red, and started to say something when Jack put in, mischievously, "Yeah, Daniel, why not?"

Daniel was about to try and explain to O'ahka when an evil thought occured to him. "You know... You and Sam can stay on the bed, and Jack can move down to the floor."

Jack gave him a baleful look, but Sam chuckled. Angel zoomed in on the only one who wasn't in agreement with Daniel's plan. "Please, Jack," she begged, adding a very effective pout.

Jack threw his eyes to the ceiling and sighed heavily. "Oh, all right," he snapped and gathered together a blanket and pillow and moved to the carpet.

Daniel smothered a snicker and watched Sam and Angel get situated on the big bed. At that moment, the feeling of happy, contentment made him wonder if maybe Angel had granted his wish after all.

"Good night, Sam," Angel said, sweetly, when they were both comfortable.

"Good night, Angel," Sam said, reaching over and switching off the lamp.

"Good night, Jack," Angel continued.

"'Night, O'," he replied in a grumpy tone.

"Good night, Daddy," was the last thing she said, and Daniel's heart squeezed inward and then started beating once again.

"Good night, sweet heart. I love you..." He waited for her reply with bated breath.

"I love you too."

the end

o o o

Seeria Nix: Thank you... I hope the reason I picked it is clear in this chap. If it wasn't, I chose that title because O' wanted to grant Daniel's wish, and she ended up doing so accidentally. I'm sorry this fic didn't turn out to be a romance, but that's what I intended in the first place. so I decided to stick with it. Hope you enjoyed it anyway. And thank you. :) I'm glad you like it.

eris86: Thank you. If you have a gift for writing creepy fic, I think that's cool. I'm just not real into writing it, 'cause I like mushy stuff better. :) Sorry it wasn't a Sam/Daniel if that's what you were hoping for. And thanks for all your reviews--they were a really great motivator. (I am the worst procrastinator ever.)

VesperRegina: Hee. I will email you later, but thanks. -- is big sis.

Sort of extra: I had trouble picking the bear's name. Here are the other two runner's up: D.J. and Space-monkey. -_Misao-incarnate _


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